Editorial
Out-of-the-box learning shouldn’t fall short on publicity
By Editorial Staff
September 22, 2016
Tags editorial
Two weeks ago, Hamilton hosted the The Richard Rorty Society’s inaugural meeting, a conference celebrating the life and works of the contemporary American philosopher. The event lasted for three days and gathered guests from the United States and 10 other countries. The final keynote speech was given by the distinguished philosopher and activist, Cornel West.
Last weekend, Hamilton hosted the NY6 Research Conference, an event that gathers students from six different liberal arts colleges in upstate New York. The event allowed the students to showcase their research work in a formal setting. The conference featured 163 student participants presenting their work in various academic fields.
This weekend, our campus will become a destination for a third gathering, the Christian A. Johnson Excellence in Teaching Conference. This conference, which will be attended by 16 liberal arts colleges from around the country, is themed around global liberal arts in the 21st century.
These three consecutive conferences manifest Hamilton’s desire and capacity to promote intellectual discourses beyond its classrooms. It is a source of pride that our small residential campus could accommodate such dialogues. However, it often seems as though these sorts of events are grievously under-publicized and are subsequently under-attended by the very students for whom they should be of utmost importance.
Hamilton has the resources to make our community aware of the opportunities presented to us on campus, so why aren’t we hearing more about them? Failing to publicize is a failure to ensure that students will be able to attend events that are also part of the Hamilton learning experience. Learning inside the classroom is the focus of our four years here, but this should not be to the exclusion of the lessons gained by being part of a club or attending a lecture.
The First-Year Experience program was in part implemented to increase participation in these events, much like professors will also incentivise their students by offering extra-credit in return for attendance. However, there is still work to be done, especially regarding publicity. Currently, there is no single schedule available online that clearly enumerates the panels and lectures that will be hosted by Hamilton this fall. Such a resource would be a good place to start.
The uniqueness of our campus is dependent on the multiple sources of knowledge we enjoy during our time here, from life-changing classes to engaging conferences to the information we share with each other every day. We should try harder to reach all students, in the hopes that they will recognize the value in attending such events.